Abroad with only child and feel like I'm not entertaining enough??

My DD is an only and whilst she is very sociable and likes playing with other children some of the time she also just likes it when it is the two of us.

I wouldn’t do a fortnight away just the two of us as I think that would be a bit much for both of us, but a week or so is fine.

DD has never wanted a sibling to date!

I love having an Only and as we’re divorcing will be a family of 2. No shits given. You are projecting @Pondering455 unless you have raised a brat that everyone notices because their behaviour is vile, no-one will otherwise be paying any attention.

I had an older sibling but as they were 5 years older we never did things together. And I always used to meet other children on holiday or was happy reading my book as I was a bit of a bookworm! I never envied friends who had siblings close in age.

I've got two and they rarely entertain one another. 3 yrs age difference and both on very different wavelengths. I was an only child till I was 8 and I loved it, actually disliked my siblings when they came along.

And for those of us who have one child not by choice - just have a heart. I can’t tell you what your comment has probably done to the OP…

Plenty of kids enjoy some time with their parents. Kids lives are so busy now with school and activities, its good to have some time to reconnect without distractions.

You can give your experience without utterly sh*ting on the OP. Was your intention to make her feel utterly worthless? because that is what you did, well done if you woke up and decided to do that this morning…

your experience as an only child is valid but I would suggest you offer that up as your experience as opposed to my life is now better than yours OP.

as others have said - having a sibling is not a magic bullet to having better holidays. Some siblings fight non stop. Some have large age gaps.

a better thing to do would be to suggest how it can be better - eg holidaying with friends families or going to hotels with kids clubs.

My daughter is an only, also not through choice. It used to upset me a lot, my father told me "she can't miss what she's never had" which did help a little. I always wanted more but it didn't happen, so it was a little painful when she repeatedly requested a sibling when younger. However I am not an only and I'm afraid that although we are close in age my siblings and I often fought like feral cats when together as children, so siblings don't always mean automatic playmates! Just try to do age appropriate activities that he will enjoy, and maybe at home do things with friends with kids sometimes, it will be fine. Don't waste time feeling guilty over something you didn't cause and can do nothing about.

I had brothers so not an OC, but the age gap means by the time I remember days out and holidays by teenage brothers were too cool and choosing to stay home.

I loved holidays, and my mission every holiday was to find friends, which I normally did. I now take my neice and nephew on holiday but my neice is really overbearing on her little brother, constantly mothers him so neither of them have much fun. They both have much better times when they’re taken out separately. Having siblings isn’t a sure fire way to entertain kids. My DW and her sister hated each other growing up too

My dd14 is an only child. We’re lucky that we holiday 4-5 times a year, on top of city breaks. We do a mix of just us 3, my extended family, in laws or friends. When it’s just us 3, she has always had great fun. When younger went to kids clubs at times but always made friends and was happy playing in the pool/ sea. Now that she’s older we’ve been able to take a friend of hers on holiday a few times and she has a ball! When I was her age I much preferred being with a friend than one of my siblings. If dd had siblings we wouldn’t take a friend with us.

First reply haven’t a clue what they are talking about. We have only one too and she regularly won’t even go to the kids camps because she doesn’t want to miss out on time with us 🤣🤣 she’s 7 btw and has always been like that. Kids thrive on connection with their parents, how lovely to be able to spend quality time with them. Kids also don’t need constant entertainment, often just being together is enough. Enjoy your holiday ❤️

I only have one DS10 and sometimes feel the same as you but he doesn't. We're going on holiday next week, just the 2 of us like always, and he couldn't be more excited!

I probably spend more time in the pool or snorkeling or entering ping pong/petanque competitions than I would if he had a sibling but really I love it too.

When he was younger, we would stick him in the hotel holiday club for a couple of mornings to help him make some pool buddies.

You are probably right that you aren’t enough entertainment and it isn’t that fun for him

Nonsense! And nasty but I think that's what you're aiming for.

OP - My DD is 20 now and has the happiest memories of holidays with just the 3 of us.

Why? My experience as an only child was that holidays with just my parents were really boring and I felt very lonely. They didn’t occupy me as much as I needed. I would have to play by myself and that wasn’t great for me as the days went on. And I was jealous of families with multiple kids. That was my experience and it’s valid.
I’m not a sad little person. I have two children and can see the difference as I had only 1 child for 6 years.
I can see the difference between holidaying as a family of 3 and holidaying as multiple families or with more children and the latter has been more fun for my child and for myself as a child.

My opinion isn’t invalid just because it’s not what someone wants to hear.

What TRIPE !!!
sounds like he is a beloved child who spends time with other kids and for this holiday he is away with family !!
that’s lovely -
enjoy it OP
you haven’t got sibling squabbles
age differences to accommodate
etc

like u, I would have adored a second but it wasn’t to be, and my only has definitely not be a lonely only !!

You are projecting. I am saying this as it took 3 years to conceive our daughter and now she’s 6 and we’re at our cut off age…so it looks as though she is our only child. We are gutted and cannot bring myself to get rid of the baby stuff!

I am very close to my sister and our daughters are very close also.
We say it’s like having a sibling who you can then go home when you’re sick of each other.
My niece is an only child, my mam is an only child, my dad has a sibling (who is self centred and bloody useless so all parent related things went to him). Looking at this perspective it’s not the end of the world……as long as they have friends/cousins/relationships with people of their own age it’s fine.

I sat next to a family on the beach last week and their two children did nothing but squabble and wind each other up.if it wasn’t arguing about buckets and spades it was who splashed who and whether the sand kicked on a baguette was an accident or on purpose etc
Please don’t beat yourself up all kinds of families have advantages and disadvantages and these change as the children get older

My only DS keeps asking when he'll have a brother and is very upset that he's not going to get one.

There are definitely times that I think it would be helpful if he had a sibling so that they could entertain each other. In fairness to him though, he's pretty good at entertaining himself. On holiday the only thing that he needed at least one of us to be with him was when he was in the pool - he would have glady gone by himself but I couldn't let a 6 year old go alone and even if there was another child they would have needed an adult with them in the pool for safety anyway.

I think families with only children can be a bit more intense as the focus is not as divided but only children are not bored!

Right - now that I’m over the absolute dick wad of a first response….

honestly, all families are different. Siblings don’t always get on. I have a friend who her and her husband have to take separate holidays one with them such child as they fight too much, friends whose children are best friends and love going on holiday together, friends with a wide age gap who can’t seem to keep both happy… if you ask my brother what his favourite holiday growing up was he would probably say the time our dad took him on safari with just him (large age gap so I was deemed not old enough) and mine was probably a trip to Iceland with just my mum (older sibling already at uni by that point)

you are enough.

first poster can get in the bin.

I think the people projecting are the ones with one kid, not the first reply! It was quite harsh for a first reply, but I think it's likely the truth for many kids. The single friends of my kids are so much more lonely when we are not home than my kids are when they are not. They do endless trips. I imagine on holidays it would be very boring.

Still, look, kids are going to be annoyed about something. They are bored for lack of sibling, their father worked too much, their mum didn't support their love of rugby, and so on. Being an onelie really isn't high on the list of genuine harms to happen to a child, and it's not even like there's anything you can do about it.

Honestly don't worry about it. On holiday all my 3 do is argue constantly so having siblings doesn't guarantee that they will be playing together. I spend a lot pf time separating mine to stop the constant bickering !

Does the ‘M’ in your username stand for Mean Mum @MeganM3?

Wow. As a mum of one that reply was like a knife….

In addition to the above, when I feel bad about having an only child, I always think about myself and my sister. We were only 2 years apart but didn't like to play together at all 🤷🏻♀️ & now she lives on the other side of the world so it's not a given that 2+ children automatically means friends for life.

Just be guided by your child. When he's a bit older, he may prefer to have a friend with him on holidays / days out etc. Which you can arrange. A couple of my friends with an only do this.

Lots of children wouldn’t be happy with just their parents for company but that doesn’t mean they need a sibling, they just make friends with other kids to play wherever they are. I’m not an only child but still made lots of friends on all our holidays!